Brazil

Brazil's Foreign Affairs minister Celso Amorim, met Wednesday with United States Trade Representative Susan Schwab in New York as part of efforts to get World Trade Organization talks restarted, but both called the discussion preliminary.

The latest release from the Brazilian Central Bank, based on private sector estimates, downgraded to 2.74% the 2006 GDP expansion. For 2007 the estimate among a hundred leading business men and analysts is that the economy will grow 3.5%.

Brazil's government owned oil corporation Petrobras declared as Commercially Viable 19 new areas (16 offshore and 3 onshore) in the Espírito Santo, Campos, and Santos Basins. A few of them have become new oil and/or natural gas fields, while others have been incorporated into existing neighboring fields.

In the midst of persistent chaos in airports Brazilian President Lula da Silva accused airlines of overbooking flights during Christmas while in one incident in Sao Paulo furious travellers stormed a runway to prevent a commercial jet from taking off.

Varig, Brazil's former flagship carrier, has been forced to leave the Star Alliance, in a move that could leave the world's largest airline grouping without a Latin American partner for 18 months or more.

Chaos returned to Brazil's airports Thursday, with passengers occupying runways and aircraft to protest delayed and cancelled flights, local media reported. The National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC) said 44 per cent of Thursday's 1,227 scheduled flights were delayed by more than an hour and more than 40 flights were cancelled.

Brazil's Supreme Court (Supreme Federal Tribunal) ruled Tuesday that a decision by congressional leaders to almost double the salaries of senators and representatives must be put to a vote in Congress.